Football helmet



oct. 27, 1925;

T. J. HARTMAN Foorm. HELMET man June 1, 1922 Patented Oct. 27, 1925.

r THOMAS J. HARTMAN,

or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FOOTBALL HELMET.

Application filed June 1,

To @ZZ '107mm 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, TI-ioMAs J. HARTMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident vof thev city of Chicago, county of Cook, and

State of llinois, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Football Helmets, of which the following is a specification. l

, My invention relates to new and useful improvements in football hehnets, and more particularly to helmets of the type having sections of armor*- yieldably connected together to permit various adjustments thereof by spacing said sections with respect to each other, and has for its object the provision of protective means for spanning the interstices between said sections without interfering with the adjustability of the sections.

Other Objects willappear hereinafter. The invention consists in the combinations and arrangements of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which,

Fig. 1, is a side elevation of the invention, Fig. 2, is a section on line 2-2, Fig. 1, and Fig. 8, is a section on line 3-3, Fig. 1.

As illustrated in the drawings only one side of the helmet is shown, and only one side thereof will be specifically referred-to, but. of course, it will be understood that both sides of the helmet are substantially identical. The helmet preferably comprises a crown piece provided with a rear shield 11, Awhich includes ear flaps 12 preferably formed integral therewith, such shield 11 being secured to the crown piece 10 by straps 13. or by any other suitable means. The outer face of the shield 11 consists of heavy leather or other suitable material, and secured to the inner face thereof is a layer 15 of padding, such padding being preferably secured to the outer face 14 of the shield by stitching which extends along the edges of the shield 11 and the ear flaps 12, as shown, such stitching being interrupted on the forward portion of each of the earflaps 12 at a point spaced from the upper end of the shield 11, as shown at 16 thereby forming a pocket or passageway 17 between the padding 15 and the outer face 14 of the shield. Secured to the crown piece 10, preferably intermediate its ends, by means of a strap 1922. serial No. 565,024.

18 is a front shield 19, the free ends of which are preferably disposed adj acentthe pockets 17 formed in the shield 11, asshown. The shield 19 also comprises a heavy outer layer 20' ofV leather or other material, and an inner layer 21 of padding, there preferably being a lining 22 disposed over the padding 21, as shown. The ends of the shield 19 are preferably connected to ther ear flaps 12 by means of elastic strips 23, the end 24 of, each strip being preferably, held between the outer and inner layers of the shield 19 by the stitching which secures said layers together, and the end 25 of the strip 23 preferably extends into the pocket or passageway 17, and is secured by a transverse line of stitching 26, as shown.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the size of the helmet may be variedas desired by moving the ends of the shield 19 away from the ear flaps 12. A helmet such as described has a very serious defect in that when the adjacent ends of the shield are separated to permit adjustment of the armored sections of the helmet to larger sizes, a space is left between the ends of the sections, which is entirely unprotected and as this space is of necessity situated in the vicinityf of the tiemple of the wearer it becomes important to afford protection to such portion without interfering with the adjustability of the helmet.` This I have accomplished by providing a member 27, preferably in the form of a tongue and of heavy material, which is adapted to span the interstice'between the ear flap 12 and the shield 19,-so as to provide protection to the wearer at this point. As illustrated, the tongue 27 preferably has one end secured between the inner and outer layers 21 and 2O by means of stitching 28, as shown in F 2, and the opposite end of the tongue 27 projects into the pocket 17, and isslidably held therein. Vhen used in connection with the elastic strip 23the tongue 27 is disposed on the outer side of said elastic strip. By this arrangement it is evident4 that when the shield 19 is spaced from the ear flap 12 in order to permit adjustment of the helmet to larger sizes, ample protection is afforded the wearer by the tongue 27 which provides a heavy piece of material which extends across the space between the shield and the ear flap, such tongue in no way interferingl with the adjustability of the helmet.

While l have illustrated and described 'the lli) preferred i'orln ot construction for carrying my invention into effect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing 'from the spirit ot" the invention. l, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variations and Inodications as come within the scope of the appended claims.

Having Vdescribed my invention, what l elaiin as new vand desire to secure by Let- Patent is: Y l. A .football hehnet comprising armored setions yadjustaioly connected together, each et which consists Otan inner layer ot padding and an outer layer of arinor; and a tongue oi armor material secured between the layers oit one of said sections? said tongue slidably vpiojectiing between the layers oi the other otsaid sections and eii'eetively covering the interstioes between said sections` the stitching Sor holding said layers together being interrupted to forni a pas sageway for said tongue.

2. A football helmet comprising armor d sections adjustably conneeted'together, each of which oonsistsot an inner layer of padding and an outer layer et armor; a tongue of armor material secured between the layers of one of said sections, said tongue slidably projecting between the layers of the other of said sections and effectively covering the interstiees between said sections, the stitching -for holding said layers together being interrupted to form a passageway for said tongue; and an elastic strip secured on the yinner side of said tongue having one end secured between the layers of said first `inentioned section7 and having its opposite Yend extending through saidpassageway-and being secured by another line of stitching. in testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification.

THOMAS J. H ARTMAN. 

